Kickworldwide directors back in business

Two of the existing directors of the collapsed Cheshire-based football talent agency Kickworldwide firm.have bought the company back from administrators.

Steve Bellis told Confidential that he and Steve Cartwright had started a new company called KW Global Ltd and had made a ‘significant’ investment to acquire the assets of the old firm.

“All I can say is that what happened was the result of a very hostile internal takeover bid,” he said. “We have acquired the television formats for the shows we make and the trading names and we want to continue business as usual.”

Kickworldwide had established the reality TV talent search show Soccer Prince with Freemantle Media, which was broadcast in China, India and Vietnam and offered the winner a chance to train with a Premier League club for a year.

It also ran diploma courses to create the next generation of referees, coaches, sports scientists, turf technicians and commercial football industry professionals.Bellis said the new company would continue to work in overseas markets and had managed to maintain existing relationships that should ensure a ‘smooth transition’ for the new company.

“We’ll be doing exactly what we did before and although we had to lose three staff, we hope we’ll be in a position to start hiring again soon. We had some good relationships before and that has helped us.”